In spite of everything, the FFI editors seriously intend to sum up the results of combat cinema by sorting out the top three winners in each category for which visitors to our site voted. Today we will analyze the top three in the category of historical and fantasy films, and also find out why we are so looking forward to the winners in the category "The most anticipated film of 2022".
Historical, fantasy or wuxia film 2021
In the past year, many films that were “delayed” due to the pandemic, including outright blockbusters from China and Japan, finally reached the audience.
Hobo Kenshin: Endgame (dir. Keishi Otomo) (26%, 23 votes)
After 8 years (actually 6, since the film was supposed to be released in the summer of 2020), fans of the character named Himura Kenshin waited for the full-length film adaptation of the prequel to the first three films and the last story of the great swordsman.
Movies with subtitles "Start" и "The final" came out almost at the same time (and "The final" was the first to be released), and, despite the names, they are plot-related. In fact, history "Final" continues the story "Beginnings", but 14 years after those events. In general, if due to the frequent (and frankly drawn-out) flashbacks of our winner, "Start" you can skip it, but to understand “who are all these people and what’s going on here?”, you still need to familiarize yourself with the original trilogy (2012, 2014). And if you dare, you'll see some pretty cool samurai action films of their time! True, you must understand that watching Japanese cinema and all kinds of acting is quite normal for this film school.
The latest film about the adventures of the great swordsman Kenshin, which ties all five films together, can safely be considered a film worthy of first place not only in this category, but also at least among the top three martial arts films! Because they are fighting "Finale" a lot and beautifully, with and without bladed weapons. Add in massive explosions and pyrotechnics that shatter the scenery of the city of Kyoto to smithereens, and you get a feast for the eyes of an action movie lover.
For the stunt coordinator Kenji Sato (Resident Evil franchise) and famous fight choreographer Kenji Tanigaki (“The Lost Blademaster”, “Big Brother”, “Crossfire”) this film is, as the Americans say, a masterpiece. Such dashingly choreographed and executed historical action is hard to find these days.
Of course, this is facilitated by the actors who trained long and hard with the stunt team. This applies to both the title Takero Sato, and his main on-screen opponent Makenyu Arata (who doesn’t look at all like his father, the legendary Sonny Tiebout in his youth), practicing martial arts since his youth.
In general, it was not for nothing that the final fight from this film competed for the title of best screen fighting game, and "Vagabond Kenshin: Endgame" received gold in this category!
The Last Duel (dir. Ridley Scott) (25%, 22 votes)
Literally one vote behind almost the coolest samurai action movie of the last 5 years was the historical drama of an 84-year-old Ridley Scott. At first we thought it was strange, because the genre "The Last Duel" is rather a detective drama about a lady's violated honor, sense of duty and even friendship, and even based on real events in France at the end of the 14th century.
Then we remembered that old Ridley could and made excellent historical films, like "Gladiator" (2001) "Kingdom of heaven" (2005) or "Robin the Hood" (2010), which our subscribers would definitely suggest if they didn’t like samurai action films or Chinese wuxia.
The plot and the story told from three sides in the film can be treated differently. Judging by the vote, visitors to our site "The Last Duel" I liked it. But the film failed at the domestic box office, critics shared their opinions about the film equally among themselves, and Scott himself spoke in the spirit of “The youth did not understand.” What is incomprehensible here is a mystery, but the film itself leaves behind a depressing feeling, which is normal, since the location and period are presented here without embellishment, and the plot-forming event itself is well constructed from the point of view of drama.
As for the action scenes, there are some here. From time to time, a massive battle pops up in the narrative, choreographed and filmed in a harsh, bloody, scary manner. But the main event is, of course, the final duel between the characters of wonderful actors Matt Damon и Adam Driver (and, of course, their doubles). The fight begins on the lists, but the riders quickly find themselves on the ground and stage a truly excellent fight scene, which cannot even be called fencing. Not only swords and shields are used, but also daggers, knives, axes, etc., and armor is not just for decoration - they play a role, adding more highlights to the battle.
The stuntman and now action director is responsible for this intense knightly fight. Trayan Milenov (yes, the same one who almost completely lost Scott Adkins in the second "Undeniable"). And after all, it (the scene) is included in list of the best on-screen fights - our subscribers proposed knightly showdowns in this category for the first time! All that remains is to praise the concept and execution of this duel. As they say: Trajan - take off the escho, and we put it on "Last duel" silver wreath!
Assassin: Battle of Two Worlds (dir. Lu Yang) (17%, 15 votes)
"Killer in Red", "A Writer's Odyssey" or in Russian box office "Assassin: Battle of Two Worlds" - this is far from the simplest wuxia fantasy, both in genre and in relation to this nomination. The fact is that the events of the film unfold in our world and in a fictional one, which is a typical dark fantasy with fairy-tale folk motifs, where a young tragic hero must overthrow the local Sauron.
Director Lu Yang got quite good at historical detective action films "Brotherhood of Blades" (2014) and "Brotherhood of Blades 2" (2017) to release a real blockbuster with high-quality computer graphics, which is rarely seen in Chinese cinema. And again - the plot is complicated, this is not a typical fantasy, this is a detective story turning into a thriller. Only for some reason with inserts from the “other world”.
In the center of a non-fairy tale plot is the actor's hero Lei Jiayin, who is looking for a kidnapped daughter, and representatives of an advanced corporation offer him to kill an ordinary writer of science fiction books in which this same daughter appears in order to find her.
Yes, Ian has a lot of borrowings, especially the viewer who has seen enough will unmistakably identify the local "Venoma". Yes, at some point fantasy showdowns begin to get boring, and you want the action to move back to our world and the difficult dilemma of the main character.
What’s interesting is that the action in the film is both fantasy (with all those attributes that you love or “love”) and quite “ordinary”. Why did we put this word in quotation marks? Yes, because the mercenaries who must face Lei Jiaying and beauty Yang Mi, who do most of the hand-to-hand combat, have superhuman abilities.
But even if we move away from the action component, "Battle of Two Worlds" - this is a quite interesting film, which seems to have “worked” for a sequel. And we, in general, are happy to give third place in our list of leaders.
The most anticipated movie of 2022
It was very amusing for our editors to observe how, of all the presented nominees, which we consider quite worthy candidates for the title of winner, the fourth ones were distant by a double margin "The Expendables".
The Expendables 4 (dir. Scott Waugh) (30%, 43 votes)
So! Now a serious question for the whole class: who liked the last film in the series? Hands up! Well... So it seems to us that in such a conditional class no one would raise their hands. First "The Expendables" shot, thanks to the wildest nostalgia for old action films and names on posters. Still would! Seeing so many familiar names among athletes and action heroes of the past in one film. Give me two! True, in second, despite an even greater number of familiar and beloved names, there were already serious problems with the logic of the narrative, but this skit satisfied everyone. But the third part... Yes, the amount of sand from the invitees Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford и Mel Gibson on the set increased many times over, but in essence, the film, which was supposed to introduce the world to new, young unstoppables, turned out to be of no use to anyone.
Stallone first wanted to let out the fourth film in 2017, slightly changing the concept, but still keeping outspoken old people in the main positions, among whom the “young” one had wormed his way in from the first part. Jason Statham. The concept has changed a hundred times, Sly tore relationship with the producer of "The Expendables" Avi Lernel, threatened to remove "female" and "serial" version, but still returned to project.
Now at the forefront is the team of Barney Ross, no longer familiar to us, but specifically Lee Christmas, again played by 54-year-old Statham. Pensioners like him still hang out around him Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Sly himself, but it seems there won’t be many old people in the frame. Of the more or less recent names, the film included Asian hand-to-hand movie stars who were completely lost in their careers. Tony JAA и Iko Uwaisa (the latter, with his cute face, plays the main villain in the film) and the frankly worn-out Transformers star - Megan Fox.
What else "The Expendables 4" could be of interest to us, other than as a film set freer from old man's sand? Cool hand-to-hand combat? It’s unlikely, because almost random people from Europe are responsible for staging the action and fight choreography: Rock Tsvetkov, Vlasto Ivanovich и Goran Stepanovic...
One thing is good... The film was shot by a former professional stuntman Scott Waugh (“Need For Speed”, “Well 6 Feet Deep”), who, we hope, can come up with something for this whole strange company.
Friends! Gold in this category is really strange... And we would really like to see your expectations from the fourth in the comments "The Expendables"!
Tyler Rake: Rescue Mission 2 (dir. Sam Hargrave) (19%, 28 votes)
Information that the sequel to the successful action project from Netflix under the original name "Extraction" necessarily will, appeared six months after the success of the action film. There are no surprises here. Even in our project to sum up results of action films for 2020, "Tyler Rake" became the first in the categories “Best Blockbuster” and “Best Action Film”, and also entered the top three in the category “Best Screen Fight”.
Yes, critics and many viewers criticized the film for its simple plot, for the ragged presentation of the material, but everyone noted the discoveries of another former stuntman Sam Hargrave (among other things, who shot the film as a cameraman with his team), who turned an ordinary mid-budget action film into a real attraction due to coolly conceived, staged and filmed action, due to long shots and the effect of one take in many scenes. In addition, one cannot ignore the charming and hardworking Chris Hemsworth, who performed many of his own stunts.
The same people are at the helm of the second part, instead of the heat of Bangladesh, the snow and cold of Canada, the streaming giant has increased the budget for the production of the action film, in which a veteran now helps Hargrave to direct the action Nun Orsatti (“Ninja Assassin”, “Mechanic”, “Ride Together”), who began his career in the early 80s.
Our editors expect from the second "Tyler Rake" a more intelligible plot, but still the same hurricane and inventive action, for which, it seems, Hollywood is seriously going to grab its claws into Sam Hargrave, judging by his work schedule as a director.
Casualty 2 (dir. George Kirby, Garry Kirby) (15%, 21 votes)
So what happens... The top three in the most anticipated action films are all sequels? It seems that this has never happened in our project!
"Faster than bullet" David Leitch "Devastation" Gareth Evans "Day shift" JJ Perry... No, our visitors are not interested in this, but the sequel to the comic hand-to-hand action movie from Adkins is just that! But let's, as they say, figure it out.
First "Accident" (2018) about hitman Mike Fallon was the duo's first feature film Jesse W. Johnson as a director and Scott Adkins as an actor who could be watched without feeling shame. The stars just so aligned or some shaman from Foggy Albion conjured a spell, but it was with "Accident" the collaboration of these two English gentlemen began to produce sane results. So much so that the first "Happening" won Best Action Film, Best Hand-to-Hand Action Film and took second place for Best On-Screen Fighting for 2018 year.
But here's the thing: the sequel is being directed by the Kirby brothers, known only for their short films, Adkins is already 45 years old, and the main feature of the original - many familiar movie fighters in the cast - will not be there. Instead of venerable Michael Jai White, Ray Park, Tim Man и Amy Johnston, the second part offers us, in fact, non-names, whose careers can only be followed by fans of the genre like us.
In the new film, Mike Fallon will fight with Zara Pitian, Beau Fowler, Sarah Chan and other athletes turned stuntmen. There is only one good thing - a member of the Jackie Chan Stuntmen Association is responsible for staging the fight choreography - Andy Long (Andreas Nguyen), who has proven many times that he and his German team can show real class. Perhaps that is why votes were given specifically for this film? Adkins, by the way, has already worked with Long on the film "Max Cloud" (2020). But don’t rush to get upset, because it was a pure farce comedy, and "Accident 2" - first of all, after all, a hand-to-hand action movie!
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Tags: Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday, Assassin in Red, extraction 2, Netflix, Rurouni Kenshin: The Finale, The Expendables 4, The last duel, Adam Driver, Beau Fowler, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Zara Pitian, Iko Uwais, results of action cinema 2021, Chris Hemsworth, Keishi Otomo, Kenji Sato, Kenji Tanigaki, Lu Yang, Lei Jiyan, Makenyu Arata, Megan Fox, Matt Damon, Summing up the fight cinema, Ridley Scott, Randy Couture, Sarah Chan, Sylvester Stallone, Scott Waugh, Scott Adkins, Sam Hargrave, Takeru Sato, Tony JAA, Trayan Milenov-Troy, Andy Long, Yang Mi
Tags: Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday, Assassin in Red, extraction 2, Netflix, Rurouni Kenshin: The Finale, The Expendables 4, The last duel, Adam Driver, Beau Fowler, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Zara Pitian, Iko Uwais, results of action cinema 2021, Chris Hemsworth, Keishi Otomo, Kenji Sato, Kenji Tanigaki, Lu Yang, Lei Jiyan, Makenyu Arata, Megan Fox, Matt Damon, Summing up the fight cinema, Ridley Scott, Randy Couture, Sarah Chan, Sylvester Stallone, Scott Waugh, Scott Adkins, Sam Hargrave, Takeru Sato, Tony JAA, Trayan Milenov-Troy, Andy Long, Yang Mi
Let’s just say, it’s not that I voted for them out of despair, but I’ll still watch it anyway. The same way I would watch Triple Threat even if I knew in advance how weak it would be. Damn, and I realize that the last thing I really liked from Sly was fourth “Rambo”, the first “Expendables” and “Unstoppable” (either “Headshot” or “Bullet in a head”, I don’t remember exactly), i.e. this all happened more than ten years ago - but I still hope that the film will turn out to be at least somewhat good.
At the time of voting, I somehow didn’t pay close attention to “Faster than a Bullet.” Otherwise I don’t even know how I would vote. Four candidates for three places. The Expendables 4, Tyler Rake 2, Casualty 2, and Faster than a Bullet are really the four movies I'm going to watch.
To be honest, the fights in the first “Accident” didn’t impress me at all. Except that I liked Adkins vs Johnston - she’s a very sexy girl and at the same time she fights in such a way that you believe that she can punch trained men in the back (which is very rare for fighters). The movie itself was just fun. Of Adkins’ films, specifically as films, I can’t name many that I watched with pleasure, not because they were action films “with the most perfect fighter.”
Threat. I’ll also watch “Ancharted,” but not as an action movie, but as an adventure comedy entertainment. And the Kingsmen will take first place in the “disappointment” next year by a huge margin.
Wave,
Yes, “Kingsman” was not as bright as the first two, but I don’t think about a huge gap. Moreover, the year has just begun :)
Danil Chupakhin, it didn’t just turn out “not so bright” - it turned out to be such crap that I turned off the player and erased the file after half an hour of watching, without even turning to the action that was shown in the trailer. And until which, judging by the reviews, is at least an hour from the start.
Wave,
I went to the cinema... Not much action, yes. But the battle between the heroes and Rasputin will definitely be on the list of proposals for the best movie fight for 2022 :)
Danil Chupakhin
- Is this the king? I didn't vote for him! ©